UPDATE: The winner is…Cindy Hunt!
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It’s another obscure holiday today! One we can all love, right? It’s actually celebrating oral storytelling. However, we can bend the rules a bit here!

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, take a look at the photo and tell me a story. Your story doesn’t have to be complete, or long, or even any good. Just look at the picture and wing it! Have fun!

Of course, this is a day we celebrate in our household! The red-headed hellion (my daughter) would have it no other way. She spent quite a lot of time in Ireland with her father’s relatives when she was younger and took two of the girls to Ireland recently to meet with the people they’re always talking to on the phone. Tonight, we’ll have a lovely meal, but parades are out because they’re simply too far away. We’ll spend it quietly with family. If celebrating St. Paddy’s Day isn’t a thing in your house, consider making it one. We all need loads and loads of reasons to celebrate life throughout the year! Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone!

Open Contests

1. Meet Your Weekend Book Boyfriend — $0.99 Sale! (Contest + Excerpt) — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: National Barbie Day (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
3. Word Search: Favorite Pets (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
4. The Joy of Bingeing (Contest) — Win a FREE book!
5. Katherine Smits: St. Patrick’s Story Spectacular — The Pen Dames March Contest (2 Prizes!) — Win an Amazon gift card, plus–have your name appear in a story!
6. Gabbi Grey: A Sexy Story (Contest)  — Win an Amazon gift card!
7. Saturday Puzzle-Contest & a Reminder! — Win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Debra Guyette!
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No, I’m not glitching this morning. Forgive the Christmas-y sign, I don’t mean to confuse you, but I didn’t have time to make my own neutral holiday sign!

A friend, I think it was Laura, suggested that since I love silly holidays so much, that I should have a contest and ask y’all for some brand-new holiday names and dates we might celebrate! I think that’s a completely awesome idea, so here’s the challenge…

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, and to be forever known as the originator of your singular holiday, give me a date and a name for your holiday! Have fun with it! And who knows, maybe we should add it to my blog calendar!

Open Contests & Giveaways

1. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: What I want for dinner tonight! — Last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Show me what you made (Part Two) (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
3. Word Search: Sticky Bun Day — Breakfast Pastries (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
4. Story Cubes — Tell me a story (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
5. FREE Read: Two Hot — Everyone! Get your FREE read!
6. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: A Romantic Dinner — Win an Amazon gift card!
7. Anna Taylor Sweringen/Michal Scott: Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
8. Deb Robinson: 5 Shades of Brothers Browne (FREE Read) — EVERYONE! Get your FREE read!

UPDATE: The winner is…Kerry Jo Pruett!
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I know, I know. Lately, I’m seem to be obsessed with food. My fun holiday list isn’t helping at all. Today is Sticky Bun Day! So, in honor of the occasion, I quickly listed ten breakfast pastries I could think of off the top of my head.

Exercise that gray matter and enjoy the puzzle! Then, for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, add to the list OR tell me your favorites! For me, it’s kolaches and danishes!

UPDATE: The winner is…Debra S!
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It’s just a week until Valentine’s Day, so this is the perfect holiday to remind you to get those cards ready! Take time today to write a note to a friend or loved one. Yes, we love the convenience of instant messaging, but a hand-written note can be held and treasured.

So, today, consider mailing a card to someone you care about. I have a hand-painted card to send to one lucky commenter. I’ll only hold this contest open for a couple of days, so enter now!

“Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

“We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.”

~ Again, Martin Luther King, Jr.

UPDATE: The winner is…Ann Ivey!
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This is the second year I’m celebrating! I’m a huge Sci-Fi fan. I started watching movies like The Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, loved The Thing (Lord, was Kurt Russell hot!), and loved the Terminator and Alien movies. However, I love watching Sci-Fi series (like Farscape), where the good guys are good and the future gives you hope for humanity. My all-time favorite series are the many Star Trek series. And as I said last year, I began bingeing all the Star Trek series during COVID—and thank goodness, there’s a lot out there because I’m still working my way through all of them.

So far, I’ve made it completely through Star Trek: Next Generation (Picard), Deep Space Nine (Sisko), and Voyager (Janeway), Enterprise (Archer), and Picard. I’ve been struggling through Discovery. I love some of the characters (Captain Georgiou, especially). I love that they shot far into the future, out of the usual Star Trek timeline. I’m waiting for another season of Strange New Worlds (Anson), which is proving to be my favorite Star Trek series, by far, and the animated series, Lower Decks. I also began a rewatch of the Original Series with William Shatner, and all I can say is that Star Trek owes a huge debt to Shatner because his natural charisma kept you watching even when the storyline was silly. I do believe that a different actor wouldn’t have made you care as much about the story.  And good lord, yes, the man was sexy as hell.

If you’re interested at all in checking out the series, here’s a list of all the Star Trek series in the order they appeared—not necessarily in the chronological timeline.

Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek: The Animated Series

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Voyager

Star Trek: Enterprise (actually, the first in chronological order)

Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Short Treks

Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Lower Decks

Star Trek: Prodigy

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Star Trek: Very Short Treks

I couldn’t find a good, uncopyrighted image for this animated series of shorts!

So, there is a contest in here somewhere. I’ve rambled enough.  For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me what Sci-Fi series or movies made you lifelong fans. Are you more of a Star Wars fan or a Trekkie?